Volume 18,
Issue 5,
1969

In the course of arbovirus studies in the Ohio-Mississippi Basin, trivittatus virus was isolated from Aedes trivittatus mosquitoes, and a strain of Western equine encephalomyelitis virus (WEE) was isolated from the brain of a horse. Surveys for the presence of trivittatus neutralizing antibody resulted in the detection of protective serum from human beings, dogs, and cottontail rabbits. Although epizootics due to WEE virus had recently involved equine populations, there was little serologic evidence to indicate that human residents of the area had been infected.

A new arbovirus of the Simbu group was isolated from birds in the United States. Its properties in common with arboviruses are sensitivity to sodium desoxycholate, low pH, and heat labilities, and its possession of ribonucleic acid. Antigenic comparisons with various members of the Simbu group of arboviruses showed this virus to be closely related to, but distinguishable from, Ingwavuma and Manzanilla viruses. The name Mermet virus is proposed after a lake in the region from which the virus was first isolated.

The American Public Health Association offers nine color plates with explanatory captions illustrating various forms and phases of Plasmodium species significant to man in a 24-page brochure.

Along with two master tables summarizing the differentiation of the malaria parasite in stained thin and thick films, the new reprint makes an ideal adjunct for student use in the study of this complex organism.

The Association is indebted to the U.S. Public Health Service, in whose Publication No. 796 (1960) these color plates last appeared, for permission to present these illustrations for your convenience.

Order Malaria in Man singly at $1.50 per copy; quantity orders of 100 or more at 10% discount; orders of 500 or more at 15% discount from:

Book Service, American Public Health Association, 1740 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 10019.

Ticks and other ectoparasites were removed from small mammals captured in western Kentucky during 1966 and 1967. They were then processed to attempt isolation of virus by inoculation of newborn white Swiss mice. A virus was isolated from a single Amblyomma americanum nymphal tick that had been removed from a woodchuck (Marmota monax). Immunologic studies suggested that this virus had not been previously described, and we named it Lone Star. The new virus was shown to be sensitive to sodium desoxycholate, spherical in shape, 90 to 100 mµ in diameter, and probably to contain ribonucleic acid. Results of experimental inoculation of selected vertebrates, embryos, and cell cultures are described in the report. A survey was done to determine the distribution of neutralizing antibodies to Lone Star virus in specimens from domesti and feral creatures as well as human residents.

Isolation of the virus, the most reliable means of diagnosing Colorado tick fever, is not always practicable. The standard complement-fixation test, using a mouse-brain-derived antigen, may not detect significant rises in antibody titer during the usual 2- or 3-week observation period. Complement-fixation (CF) tests, with antigens derived from infected mouse brains and from an established line of hamster-kidney cells, were compared with a neutralization (plaque-reduction) test and an indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) staining test for usefulness in the serologic diagnosis of 34 cases of Colorado tick fever. The cell-culture antigen was as reliable as the mouse-brain antigen, and its preparation was simpler. The CF-antibody titers and the neutralizing-antibody titers tended to be lower and slower to appear than the IFA titers. The IFA method was simple, rapid, and accurate. The IFA titers frequently appeared earlier after onset of illness and reached higher levels than did the CF titers.

Antigenic relations among viruses isolated from bats were studied by complement-fixation, hemagglutination-inhibition, and neutralization testing. This information would help to determine which of these viruses could be identified as strains and which could be recognized as antigenically distinct agents. The viruses were also characterized with respect to their comparative infectiousness for several host systems. Most of the viruses isolated from bats have been previously placed in serogroup B; two were considered ungrouped. The group B viruses included Rio Bravo, Burns, Dakar, BP 180, Ib An 8646, Bukalasa, and Entebbe virus. Antigenic studies indicated that BP 180 and Ib An 8646 were strains of Dakar virus. Bukalasa virus was shown to be closely related to the Dakar virus strains. Rio Bravo and Burns viruses were indistinguishable and were distantly related to MML virus, which, by certain tests, was also distantly related to the Dakar virus strains. The two ungrouped viruses, Kern Canyon and Lagos, were not related to one another nor to any of the other viruses. Plaque formation on LLC-MK2 or Vero cell cultures, or both, and the production of cytopathic effects (CPE) in BHK-21 cell cultures were also studied. Lagos bat and Bukalasa viruses did not produce plaques and Lagos bat virus did not produce CPE in BHK-21 cell cultures. A comparison of the in vitro assays with assays performed in suckling mice indicated that the intracerebral inoculation of suckling mice provided a slightly more sensitive assay system than any of the in vitro systems. Neutralization in LLC-MK2 cell cultures was significantly enhanced by the presence of “fresh” normal serum in the neutralization mixtures, although in certain instances, the enhancement of neutralization was accompanied by a lessening in the specificity of the neutralization reaction.

Constitution. Article I. Name, Origin, and Purpose. Section 1. This society shall be called “The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.”

Section 2. The Society shall be incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware and shall be formed by the amalgamation of the American Society of Tropical Medicine, founded in 1903, and the National Malaria Society, founded in 1916.

Section 3. The purpose of this Society shall be the advancement of tropical medicine and hygiene, including medicine, nursing, engineering, entomology, parasitology, and allied specialties in this field.

Article II. Membership. Section 1. All members in good standing as of the date of amalgamation of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and of the National Malaria Society become charter members of The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene upon payment of the annual dues.

Section 2. There shall be five classes of members: Active, Honorary, Life, Emeritus, and Student.

The Officers and Councilors have decided to change the fiscal year of our Society to coincide with the calendar year. Previously, it has covered the period from 1 October to 31 September. Since our income and expenses are primarily on a calendar-year basis, this change will enable the Society to determine better its cash position and to budget more accurately. Accordingly, the auditor has prepared the following Financial Report for 1968. This report represents the subtraction of three 1967 months (October, November, December) from our last fiscal-year report, published in the March 1969 issue of the Journal, and the addition of the corresponding months of 1968. The next financial report (1969) will represent the first complete year with our new publishing contract and increased dues, and should enable us to obtain a realistic view of our Society's financial position.

Publications describing a restricted insect fauna of a defined region generally are intended for entomologically sophisticated readers and have a limited content. However, Anopheline Mosquitoes of Malaya and Borneo does not fit this pattern. It covers a wide spectrum of subject matter and appears to be written for the layman. The book also departs from the traditional format in its informal prose style; much of the writing is leisurely, and documentation is occasionally incomplete.

Between the covers of this volume may be found answers to most questions that Malaysian or Bornean health officers might reasonably ask concerning the Anophelines of their territories. “What are the names of the structures visible on a given specimen?” “How does one name that specimen?” “What does the designation of species imply?” “What factors influence vectorial capacity?” “How does one determine the vectorial capacity of a given Anopheline?”

This volume of the British Medical Bulletin contains an introduction by L. S. Penrose and 16 articles in the various areas of human genetics—biochemical, biometrical, and cytogenetic.

In the first paper Harry Harris discusses the occurrence and reasons for polymorphisms in man, and then subsequent papers consider particular polymorphisms in more detail. H. Lehmann and R. W. Carrell describe the variants of human hemoglobin, paying attention to the three-dimensional structure. D. J. Weatherall considers the genetics of thalassemia, which is concerned with the rate of synthesis of globin chains. W. T. J. Morgan and Winifred M. Watkins describe in some detail the biochemistry of the formation of blood-group substances. There follows a group of three papers of a somewhat more clinical nature: Charles R. Scriver gives a brief overview of inborn errors of amino-acid metabolism; then D. C. Cusworth and C. E. Dent discuss homocystinuria and Geoffrey Dean discusses the porphyrias.